Power hunger too strong for SADC quotas to work

The South African weekly newspaper, the Mail & Guardian, published an extraordinary story in its issue of March 15-21, 2013.

Headed "Red carpet for dead Malawi President" it described in shocking detail to what astonishing lengths his relatives and political lieutenants within the ruling Democratic Progressive Party had gone to conceal Bingu wa Mutharika's death.

They flew his decomposing body to South Africa under the pretext that a post-mortem needed to be conducted and that time was needed to allow preparations for his burial to be made .All this was done while keeping Malawians and the world in the dark about Bingu's passing.

The Mail & Guardian reported how during a flight to South Africa wa Mutharika was "strapped to a stretcher with a tube placed in his mouth to make it appear that he was still alive".

Finding itself in an impossible diplomatic situation, the South African government was obliged to arrange a red-carpet welcoming ceremony when the chartered plane landed .

Why did a group of the late president's closest lieutenants find it necessary to subject him to such indignity after he had breathed his last? The answer is simple but preposterous. They needed time to fine-tune their plot to subvert the Malawi constitution, all to fulfil personal power ambitions.

Specifically, they wanted to ensure they would have control over who would fill the presidential vacancy created by wa Mutharika's sudden death after he had collapsed in his office.

While the Malawi constitution stipulates that the vice-president should take over control of the country in the event of the head of state's sudden death, the plotters were dead against letting power slip through their fingers.

The vice president at the time of wa Mutharika's death happened to be Joyce Banda, a woman who had challenged the deceased president's plans to unconstitutionally anoint his brother his successor.

Naturally, the brother who had been in line to inherit unlimited power as well as continue the Mutharika dynasty's rule in Malawi, Peter wa Mutharika, was the mastermind behind the plot to keep Banda out.

As is now well-known Peter wa Mutharika and his co-conspirators failed dismally to bring their crooked plan to fruition and are now being prosecuted for treason.

The woman they were determined to keep out is now the president of Malawi. She is the second female head of state in Africa to hold the post in her own right after rising through the ranks in her country's political structures and being elected.

Banda was elected to the position of vice-president which put her constitutionally in line to succeed Bingu wa Mutharika. The other is Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

This attempt in Malawi to stop the winds of change was not only macabre but ironic. It occurred at a time when Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries that include Zimbabwe are supposed to be pushing for gender diversity and equity in politics and other spheres.

Such a brazen attempt to use crooked means to keep power in the hands of a specific clique at the very top must be troubling not just for advocates of gender equality in Malawi but other SADC member states such as Zimbabwe. What chance is there for affirmative action to work at the lower echelons of politics if power hunger is still so ferocious at the top?

How likely is it that the Protocol on Gender and Development which SADC heads of state signed in Johannesburg in 2008 will have any appreciable impact in the foreseeable future/?

Events on the ground are not encouraging. Figures show that most of the signatories will not meet the target of having at least 50 percent representation of women in decision-making positions by 2015. By 2008, only five SADC member states, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Angola had attained at least 30 percent representation in parliament. At that stage Zimbabwe languished at about 19 percent attainment.

The Malawi debacle shows that while SADC leaders can pay lip service to the 50/50 representation principle, putting it into practice fully is still a long way off as it has to be done through still largely patriarchal parliamentary set-ups.

Perhaps gender activists should not just push for numbers but also evaluate the conduciveness of the environment for even the small number of women in decision –making positions to make an impact. Questions should be asked whether these women are free to become actual decision makers or mere cheerleading implementers of policies still crafted by males.

An incident that happened in Zimbabwe about five years ago will help to amplify this contradiction: when President Mugabe's party, Zanu-PF, imposed his nomination as Life President of the party (and thus of the country), his most vociferous and fanatical support came from the women's league. The leader of the party's women's wing, Oppah Muchinguri threatened that women would take off their clothes and demonstrate on the streets naked if Mugabe was not made president for life. Here was the same women's league that advocates equal representation championing perpetual male domination at the very top rung of national leadership.

Gender equality and diversity should start right at the top, at the level of heads of state and heads of government. But each time a presidential election is held in an African country, women candidates are conspicuous by their absence from their parties' tickets.

In the landmark Kenyan elections held in March only one woman, stood as a presidential candidate. Even then she stood as an independent after being ignored by her political party.

There will only be one woman presidential candidate in Zimbabwe's forthcoming elections. Irene Bete has entered the race as an independent, and is the only woman among 29 males vying for the top job in the land. Bete, an entrepreneur, is only the third woman since 1980 to attempt to break the pattern of exclusion on the basis of gender.

Margaret Dongo took the first step to challenge the taboo when she declared her candidacy in the 1990 presidential race. She was, however, disqualified on account of being under-aged.

Next to try to swim against the current was the late Isabel Madangure who ran for president in 2002 under the colours of the Zimbabwe Democratic People's Party.

Dongo made her brave move after parting ways with Zanu-PF and forming the Zimbabwe Union of Democrats.

It seems certain that there will still be no female presidential candidates from the main political parties, Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations.

While it would be problematic to impose gender quotas for presidents, a protocol obliging political parties to embrace the idea of fielding both male and female candidates in national leadership elections is not outrageous.

A number of African countries have or have had women vice–presidents who have acquitted themselves well, and so it is not a question of a lack of suitable candidates.

It is often forgotten that in times of national crisis or transition when a unifying figure is needed, a number of countries have turned to women.

This is how Ruth Perry became Africa's first female head of state in 1996 when she led a transitional government in Liberia . Her country turned to her during the upheavals that followed the capture and execution of Samuel Doe. Likewise, a woman served in a similar transitional role in the Central African Republic following 'Emperor' Jean Claude Bokassa's deposition.

In South Africa, Pumzile Mlambo-Ncquka and Baleka Mbete have both served as vice presidents during transitional political stages in that country. Zimbabwe has Vice President Joice Mujuru. The unanswered question is why these women have not been able to make the short leap to the top job in their countries after making it as far as they have done.